The Lapis Niger, Latin for "Black Stone," is an ancient shrine located in the Roman Forum. It is one of the most notable and mysterious sites in the area. Mentioned in many ancient descriptions of the Forum dating back to the Roman Republic and the early days of the Roman Empire, the significance of the Lapis Niger shrine was obscure and mysterious to later Romans, but it was always discussed as a place of great sacredness and significance.
The black marble paving (1st century BC) and modern concrete enclosure (early 20th century) of the Lapis Niger overlie an ancient altar and a stone block with one of the earliest known Old Latin inscriptions (c. 570-550 BC). The Lapis Niger is constructed on top of a sacred spot consisting of much older artifacts found about 5 ft (1.5 m) below the present ground level.
Drawing of the excavated Lapis Niger in the Roman Forum, in Rome, Italy (1906).
Discovery and Excavation
In 1898, Giacomo Boni, a Venetian archaeologist, was named director of the Roman Forum excavations in the Italian capital. He kept this position until his passing in 1925. One of its most outstanding discoveries in the Forum is the Lapis Niger (black stone in Latin), an ancient sanctuary where one of the first known Latin inscriptions was found, dated between 570 and 550 BC.
Also referred to as “Black Stone” in Latin, this site was discovered in a series of excavations by Giacomo Boni from 1899-1900, and was found to have been located between Curia Julia and the Arch of Septimius Severus in the Roman Forum. The original version of the site, first excavated in 1899, included a truncated cone of tuff (possibly a monument) and the lower portion of a square pillar (cippus) which was inscribed with an Old Latin inscription, perhaps the oldest in existence if not the Duenos inscription or the Praeneste fibula.
Read also: The Ballads of Johnny Horton
Historical Significance
The site is believed to date back to the Roman regal period. The Lapis Niger went through several incarnations. The initial versions were destroyed by fire or the sacking of the city and buried under the slabs of black marble.
This sanctuary, although considered a sacred space, was a mystery to the Romans themselves as early as the time of Julius Caesar. Even the Romans themselves could not fully understand this sanctuary, despite it being regarded as a hallowed area, until the time of Julius Caesar. It could have been precisely at the time of Julius Caesar (or earlier in the time of Sulla, dictator between 81 and 80 BC, according to other experts) when it is believed that this sanctuary was reformed, building a new structure with black marble flooring. The superstructure monument and shrine may have been built by Julius Caesar during his reorganization of the Forum and Comitium space. Alternatively, this may have been done a generation earlier by Sulla during one of his construction projects around the Curia Hostilia.
The Inscription
As far as the inscription is concerned, it is, as we said, the oldest known so far in Latin. But it has a number of particularities. Firstly, the alphabet with which it is written is more similar to Greek than to Latin, which places it chronologically at the origins of the latter. The lettering is closer to Greek letters than any known Latin lettering, since it is chronologically closer to the original borrowing of the Greek alphabet by peoples of Italy from Italian Greek colonies, such as Cumae.
The inscription is written boustrophedon. Many of the oldest Latin inscriptions are written in this style. And finally, the interpretation of what it says is limited because the beginning and the end of the inscription are missing and the rest is only half of each line. The meaning of the inscription is difficult to discern as the beginning and end are missing and only one third to one half of each line survives.
But what can be read seems to indicate that the site was dedicated to a king (rex). The inscription includes the word rex, probably referring to either a king (rex), or to the rex sacrorum, a high religious official.
Read also: Correct Niger Pronunciation
Here is the widely accepted translation:
Whosoever (will violate) this (grove), let him be cursed. (Let no one dump) refuse (nor throw a body …). Let it be lawful for the king (to sacrifice a cow in atonement). (Let him fine) one (fine) for each (offence). Whom the king (will fine, let him give cows). (Let the king have a -) herald.
The importance of this inscription lies in the fact that for the first time epigraphic evidence was discovered that Rome had once had kings. The significance of this inscription rests in the fact that it provided the first epigraphic proof that kings previously reigned in ancient Rome.
What Is The Mystery Surrounding The Lapis Niger? - Story Of Italy
Legends and Interpretations
At some point, the Romans forgot the original significance of the shrine. This led to several conflicting stories of its origin. The earliest writings referring to this spot regard it as a suggestum where the early kings of Rome would speak to the crowds at the forum and to the Senate.
What they were clear about was that the place was important and therefore sacred, so generation after generation they revered it and kept it intact. Since they did not know who was buried there, several stories emerged, conjectures that soon became legends. Whereas Romulus, when he vanished, left neither the least part of his body, nor any remnant of his clothes to be seen.
Read also: The Common Black Ant
According to other legends, it could be the resting place of Faustulus, the shepherd who discovered and raised Romulus and Remus, or it could be the grave of Hostus Hostilius, the grandfather of King Tullus Hostilius (third king of Rome between 673 and 642 B.C. ), who was one of the Celeres, Romulus' personal bodyguard.
As you can see the common denominator of all these conjectures is Romulus. The problem is that nothing inside the Lapis Niger can confirm (or disprove) this association. Whether Romulus or another of those kings was buried under the shrine is something we’ll probably never know.
Archaeological Findings
What the Boni excavations found, besides the pillar with the inscription, were numerous fragments of pottery, votive statuettes and evidence of ritual animal sacrifices, all under a layer of gravel with which it had been intentionally covered. Archaeological excavations (1899-1905) revealed various dedicatory items from vase fragments, statues and pieces of animal sacrifices around at the site in a layer of deliberately placed gravel. The dating of all these remains places them between the 5th and 7th centuries BC.
Boni’s excavations revealed a fourteen-square metre black pavement, for which underneath in a subterranean chamber was an earlier phase dating from between the 6th century BC to the 2nd century BC, containing substantial votive deposits in gravel; such as dedicatory gifts, small idols, pieces of terracotta bas-reliefs, fragments of vases and bones of animal sacrifices, and a collection of worked stone.
At the time, the sanctuary consisted of an open-air horseshoe shaped alter from 350-300 BC, a column that was probably dedicated for cult worship, and an inscribed stela with boustrophedonic text that remains the earliest example of an Old Latin inscription dating from 570-550 BC.
The Comitium and the Vulcanal
The Lapis Niger along with the Vulcanal are the only known parts of the ancient Comitium to survive due to periods of reorganisation of the Forum and the Comitium space. The Comitium was a public centre for much of the political and judicial activity of early Rome, and during the Roman Republic was where the Tribal Assembly and Plebeian Assembly met.
This is sometimes referred to as the Vulcanal. In November 2008 heavy rain damaged the concrete covering that has been protecting the Vulcanal and its monuments since the 1950s. This includes the inscribed stone block accorded the name of "The Black Stone" or Lapis Niger (the marble and cement covering is a mix of the original black marble said to have been used to cover the site by Sulla, and modern cement used to create the covering and keep the marble in place).
It has been suggested that the Lapis Niger was merely a repository for objects that reminded the Romans of their monarchic past (evidenced by the votive deposits), which were buried as a unified ‘place of memory’ that acquired a very special status in the late Republic, a place connected with death, mournful and fatal (marked determinedly by the later black pavement above) until its true purpose was obscured and forgotten by the Roman people into the Imperial period.
| Period | Description |
|---|---|
| 6th-7th Century BC | Earliest artifacts and remains found, including pottery fragments and votive statuettes. |
| 570-550 BC | The Cippo Del Foro Romano, inscribed stela with boustrophedon text, is dated. |
| 350-300 BC | Construction of an open-air, horseshoe-shaped altar. |
| 1st Century BC | Reconstruction with black marble flooring, possibly by Julius Caesar or Sulla. |
Popular articles:
tags:
